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Texas history

The first winners of an RCA Victor Portable Color TV set is the E.M. Bowers Family. L to R are wife, Janie; daughter, Caroline, and E.M. Bowers. The prize had a special significance because - as Janie said - "it came to us just before Christmas, and just before my birthday, and just before our 61st wedding anniversary." Fairfield winners was Warren D. Awalt Family.
Recorder archive photo

Embezzlement Case In 77th Court Delayed – The O.P. Arrington embezzlement case which was docketed to start at Groesbeck, has been delayed on agreement of the counsel. Arrington, a prominent official in Mexia, was indicted some months ago on a charge of embezzling school funds.

Child Dies Of Bright’s Disease – Alford, 6 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. O.P. Hagen, died of Bright’s Disease at the home of the family near Steward’s Mill, Saturday. Burial was in the Dew Cemetery, Sunday.

The four-panel exhibit can be seen in the lobby of the Freestone County courthouse through the month of December.
Photo by April Walker

A traveling “museum” has been installed in the lobby of the Freestone County courthouse for visitors to enjoy for the month of December featuring photos from days past of Fairfield, Teague, Wortham, and Streetman. Freestone County Historical Museum Curator Patty Pratt and Board President Linda Mullen created the four-panel exhibit, showing the history of the county since its inception in 1851.

Over the years, the county has had five jails and four courthouses – the first of which was built in 1851 and described as an “old shanty.” There is a short history and photos of each courthouse in the exhibit, as well as a cost estimate of the construction.

Pictured with the hardbound book, Freestone County Past and Present, are Museum Board President Linda Mullen and Peggy Sessions.
Courtesy photo

Freestone County Historical Museum proudly announces the publication of former Sheriff J. R. “Sonny” Sessions, Jr’s book, Freestone Past and Present. The book was compiled by Museum Board President Linda Mullen. Book sales officially open Saturday, Dec. 1, at the museum with a book signing from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hot cocoa and Christmas cookies will be served while you wait. On hand for signatures will be Linda Mullen, transcriber Eric Wood, and possibly Peggy Sessions. Admission is free for the day. Freestone Past and Present contains seven and a half years of Sonny Sessions’ weekly historical newspaper columns written after he retired from office in 2003 until just before his death in 2010. Eric Wood, of the Freestone County Archives website, transcribed the majority of the articles, as Sonny had previously given permission to Eric to post them on the website.

Weldon Bonner Prisoner In Italy – It is reported here that Mr. and Mrs. Wirt Bonner of Stewards Mill have been informed that their son, Weldon, is a German prisoner in Italy. Weldon, who has a wife and child, was living at Hillsboro when he joined the Army.

Winston Oliver Reported Missing In Italy – Ed Oliver, longtime resident of the Campbell’s Branch community north of Cotton Gin, has been notified by the War Department that his son, Winston Oliver, is missing in action in Italy. Oliver was a member of General Clark’s fifth army, which is seeing active and continuous service against the Germans in Western Italy.

In October, almost seventy-three years ago, the first school opened at the present site of Dew, in a little hewn, log house, with split log benches and no desks. Among the first teachers were Miss Molly Ruff and Mr. Thyman, with a teacher load of twenty-five pupils this being the largest number of pupils attending school at this time. The opening of the Dew School this year was quite different. With a faculty of six teachers and an enrollment of one hundred and sixty pupils. Dew has one of the most modern schools in Freestone County. A beautiful main building of rock equipped with all modern equipment Science room, library, six class rooms, and an auditorium with a seating capacity of three hundred. On the school campus we have a teacherage and a lunch room equipped to serve hot lunches to the children in cold weather. Our faculty consists of Mr. Gibson, superintendent; Mrs. B.B.

Pictured is the current state of an 1800's house slated to be moved to the Freestone County Historical Museum where it will be restored.
Facebook photo

A new exhibit is slated to be delivered to Freestone County Historical Museum in the next six months. The museum is working with Mark Thacker, AIA, a commercial and preservation architect in Tyler. The house will serve as an example of an early 1900s farmhouse and Thacker plans to also relocate and restore a log smokehouse and a detached kitchen. The house will be partially disassembled and then moved to the museum where it will undergo a restoration. The overall floor plan, according to a Facebook post from Thacker, is almost a square. “The house has some of the most amazing geometry I have ever seen in a “farmhouse,” said Thacker in an email to owner Sherry Matthews. “Whoever designed the house knew a lot about cross-ventilation and prevailing winds.” Over the next six months Thacker and his crew will be rebuilding the house.